


Jimmy Dugan Delivers a Baby (in a manner of speaking)

by wendymarlowe



Category: A League of Their Own (1992)
Genre: F/M, Post-Canon, Secret Baby, Yuletide 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-18
Updated: 2019-12-18
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:33:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21844483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wendymarlowe/pseuds/wendymarlowe
Summary: Jimmy shows up at Dottie's dairy in Oregon. He's carrying Kit's baby. (Like, holding her, not mpreg. Wrong story for that. This fic is Jimmy/Dottie but mostly implied.)
Relationships: Jimmy Dugan & Dottie Hinson, Jimmy Dugan/Dottie Hinson
Comments: 8
Kudos: 74
Collections: Yuletide 2019





	Jimmy Dugan Delivers a Baby (in a manner of speaking)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Maidenjedi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maidenjedi/gifts).



Dottie recognized the green Ford pickup as belonging to Eugene Turner, the elderly grocer downtown. Which was odd, because Eugene hadn’t come out to the dairy in ages. Not since before Bill died, definitely, and probably even several years before that. She let the screen door clatter closed behind her and went out to the driveway to meet him. A second man exited the passenger side--one who was immediately familiar.

“Hi,” Jimmy Dougan said, the hint of his drawl bringing back a barrel of memories with it. Memories Dotty thought she’d buried when she gave up baseball and came back to Oregon. “This may be a bit out of the blue… been a while.”

Jimmy Dougan looked different in a suit. An ill-fitting suit, certainly, but he gave the impression of having the wrong cut for the suit instead of the other way around. Neither Jimmy nor the suit were expected at her front door. Dotty stared.

“Your, um. Your neighbor was kind enough to give us a ride.”

_Us?_

Eugene stepped carefully down from the driver’s seat. “I didn’t mind being in on the surprise,” he said cheerfully. “Jimmy’s explained everything and I think having someone around to help with the dairy will be perfect. It’s not good for a woman to be out here running a farm alone for so long. Since you and Bill never had children of your own--”

His pontifications were cut short by a sudden and _loud_ cry from the cab of the truck. To Dottie’s shock, Jimmy leaned back in and retrieved a small bundle of pink blankets. The bundle wailed again.

“Guess she’s awake,” he declared. “Dottie, come meet your niece. This is Charlotte Grace.”

Dottie gaped at him.

Eugene sighed happily. “Little bundle of joy, this one! My Nora fed her as soon as she and Jimmy got into town on the 8:40 train and she was sweet as could be. Made me miss our boys, it did. Been forty years now but this age isn’t something you forget. Oh, but I won’t keep you. Dottie, take her so Jimmy can help me get the valises out of the truck bed? My back’s not what it used to be.”

“I got it,” Jimmy said quickly, and passed Dottie a warm and curious baby.

_Niece._ Kit had never mentioned--but then she wouldn’t, Dottie realized. They still exchanged letters a few times a month but Kit was enjoying big city life and they had less and less in common as time went by. She played baseball until the season ended and then stayed in Chicago until it started up again. Dottie stared down at Charlotte Grace. Big blue eyes and wisps of reddish curls. The spitting image of Kit at that age. Was Jimmy Dougan the father? It seemed impossible--but then, so was the idea that the man took a baby on a train from Chicago all the way to Oregon all by himself.

“Inside,” Jimmy murmured, appearing at her side and allowing Charlotte to wrap her tiny hand around his index finger. “I don’t know how much Kit has told you--”

“Nothing,” Dottie admitted.

“Shit.” Jimmy coughed. “Sorry, trying to quit with the language. I’ll explain inside, then. You can decide how much of the story you want the neighbors to know.”

***

With Eugene finally gone--after several more minutes of reminiscence from when his boys were little and maddeningly little context for what on earth was going on--Dottie and Jimmy were finally able to sit at her kitchen table with twin glasses of lemonade and a dozy Charlotte in Jimmy’s lap.

First, the most burning question in Dottie’s mind: “Is she yours?” 

Jimmy shook his head. “I understand why you ask, but no. I’m merely the… courier, I guess. You remember Mr. Harvey, who sponsored the league?” He grimaced. “His son is a real piece of work. I coached the Rockford Peaches for four years and then blew out my knee doing some damn fool performing monkey crap that Harvey Junior dreamed up to advertise the league once men’s baseball started up again after the war.”

“I’m sorry,” Dottie said automatically.

“Me too.” Jimmy snorted. “Kit really didn’t tell you we were coming?”

_Not a word._ “She… doesn’t always realize it’s hard to keep up with Chicago news from out here.” _Doesn’t bother to think whether her big sister might be worried about her._

“Yes, well.” Two faint spots of color appeared on Jimmy’s cheeks. “There’s no good way to say this, then: she and Harvey Junior have been having an affair for nearly a year now. _Were_ having an affair, I should say--kind of an open secret among the baseball circle. He’s not married but I didn’t get the impression she was angling for a ring. I believe their...whatever it was... stopped when the pregnancy started showing.”

Dottie bit her lip but eventually opted for the truth. “My sister and I have always had different views of marriage and what role it might play in our lives. She used to say she never wanted to be tied down.” Dottie had disagreed even before she met Bill--the idea of a permanent partner, best friend, and husband all in one person always sounded heavenly. And afterward… _I wouldn’t have traded my time with him for anything. Short as it was._

Jimmy cleared his throat. “Anyway. The elder Mr. Harvey knew I was a bit at loose ends trying not to fall back into bad habits and noticed that his son wasn’t about to do the right thing or anything close to it. He hired me to find Kit somewhere safe to stay and ensure the press didn’t discover his son’s indiscretion.”

“You were playing the part of her--boyfriend? Husband?”

“I… allowed people to make assumptions about Charlotte’s parentage.” He bounced the baby gently on his lap, seemingly not even realizing he was doing it. “Kit was eager to get back to baseball, back to the busy social scene to which she’d been accustomed. I understand--I missed baseball like I’d have missed an arm, those first few years--but, well. You both always talked so highly of growing up out here. She said Chicago was no place to raise a baby girl. Said you and Bill had always wanted kids… I was sorry to hear about his passing, by the way.”

“A year and two months now.” Dottie willed herself not to react too strongly. Bill had been fine one day, then caught a cold, then pneumonia, and then he was gone. Just like that. People like Eugene kept implying there was some sort of proper mourning period and then she should run out and marry the next man she saw. Because she had no children, because she couldn’t possibly manage the dairy by herself. Bill may have overseen their three farmhands, but Dottie had always done the finances and her fair share of the work. Throwing herself into running the business kept her mind off Bill. For a while.

But now there _was_ a child. Dottie snuck another look at Charlotte, happily being dandled on Jimmy’s knee. Charlotte mouthed a chubby little fist and drooled back.

“My sister asked you to bring her baby all the way across the country?”

Jimmy shrugged. “I don’t mind. And I know how much it was killing her to miss out on even a few months of baseball, before Charlotte was born. I’ve been there, remember.”

“Me too.”

He shot her a dark look, but returned his focus to Charlotte when the girl gurgled at him. “I assumed it was different, for you. When you left.”

_Right._ “I believe you mentioned ‘missing an arm,” Dotty retorted with more venom than she intended. “For me it was missing baseball or missing Bill, and… well. There are worse things than losing a limb.” Bill never seemed to regret losing his leg, after all. Not with the alternative being not coming home.

“I’m sorry,” Jimmy said quietly. “I wasn’t thinking.”

They sat in silence for several awkward minutes, sipping lemonade and watching Charlotte take in the world around her. When the unmistakable odor of wet diaper overtook the room, Jimmy excused himself with a fleeting smile and took her outside for a while where his trunk was still sitting in the driveway. Dottie washed dishes and turned everything over in her mind.

***

“So what now?”

Jimmy juggled a nearly-somnolent Charlotte to his opposite shoulder and settled himself carefully into the lone rocking chair in Dotty’s parlor. It had been in Bill’s family for generations, and Dottie got a fleeting mental glimpse of all the mothers and grandmothers who had surely settled infants the same way in that exact spot. “That’s up to you,” he replied. “I had thought you were expecting her--us--so I understand if you don’t have an answer yet. But I do hope you’re willing to raise your niece the way your sister hoped.”

Dottie nodded. That wasn’t in question. It would be a lot of work, but then so was the dairy and she managed that fine even after Bill’s passing. “I meant you,” she clarified. “Are you turning around and heading back to Chicago right away? Would you like to stay for a bit?”

The relief on his face was plain. “If it’s not too much trouble,” he said immediately. “I have enough money to rent somewhere in town--I don’t expect you to want gossip, given that I’m an uninvited houseguest--”

“Don’t be ridiculous. The loft apartment over the garage has been empty for several months, since our lead farmhand got married and moved with his new bride to a place down the road. There’d be nothing more improper about you staying there than there had been when he lived on the property.”

“Is…” He blushed faintly, which was an intriguing look on his lightly stubbled face. “I don’t suppose you’d be looking to hire a new apprentice farmhand, perhaps?” He grimaced. “I’ll admit, this bum knee has slowed me down a little, but I can still get around fine for everything except baseball. And with a little girl underfoot you might be able to use some help around here? I’m in no hurry to get back, honestly.”

_Yes._ Dottie’s internal reaction was instinctive. There were very few men she’d trust with so much of her life, but it was a bit astounding to realize that Jimmy Dougan was on that very short list. Not that anything _inappropriate_ was likely to happen, but… would it be so bad if it did?

“In fact,” Dottie said slowly, “ I think that might work out nicely.”

*************

_Ten years later_

“Auntie Kit! Auntie Kit!”

Kit laughed aloud at the flame-haired bundle of legs and excitement who barreled into her the minute she got off the train. The girl was followed at a more sedate pace by a much grayer Jimmy Dugan and a heavily-pregnant Dottie.

“Hey squirt,” Kit said, ruffling Charlotte’s hair. “Thought it was time I came to see you out here instead of you having to come halfway across the country to see me.”

“Welcome,” Jimmy declared, drawing her in for a hug. “Charlotte’s been practicing her pitching for _weeks_ now in anticipation of showing off for you.”

“I’ve been holding the baseball equipment hostage until she gets her chores done every morning,” Dottie volunteered from behind him.

Kit grabbed her big sister in a slightly more awkward embrace, owing to the size of Dottie’s stomach. “Nag,” she whispered in her ear.

“Mule!” Dottie countered.

_“Mom!”_ Charlotte rolled her eyes and groaned. “Come on, Auntie Kit, you’re going to share my room with me. Mom says it used to be yours..”


End file.
